A Kunoichi's Power
by chattyxx
Summary: Born a female, Naru is protected and loved. This is the story about her ninja way and the strengths that define her. Fem!Naru
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So I really wanted to write a long story, so here is one chapter of it. If you like it, follow it so I'll know if I should continue or not. Anyway, my examinations are coming up so I may not upload much. Gomenasai! Please be patient with me! Thank you so much for reading and no flames please! Alright! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor earn anything from writing this fanfiction.

**Warning: Fem!Naru, Not edited.**

There is a certain innocence in her big blue eyes as she stares at the Sandaime. The only indication she held the demon was the seal on her stomach. She is wailing, and the elderly man bends down to pick her up. Rocking her gently, he steps with a purpose towards the Hokage tower.

"Call the council," he says, and the cat-masked ANBU next to him nods, before leaping off. The remaining shinobi trial after the wizened shinobi, faces ashen after witnessing the death of one of the most gifted Hokage to grace Konoha. He had so much potential, but he sacrificed himself for Konoha.

As he settles down on the seat he never wished to sit on again, he closes his eyes, baby in his arms, as he awaits the council.

"Hiruzen! What's the meaning of this? Where's the Yondaime?" Homura questioned. The old Sarutobi sighed.

"The Yondaime has fallen. He has sealed the Kyuubi into this child, Naru." he hesitates. Should he tell them? Minato had wanted him to keep it a secret. But still, she is a girl, and she needed protection from the civilians and the council who want to kill her because of what she houses. As of now, the greater threat is the people of Konoha.

"The Kyuubi? Kill her!" A merchant on the civilian council yells. Sandaime silences him with a glare.

"She," Hiruzen continues, all hesitation gone, knowing if he hushed the truth up, she would not even live to meet any of her father's enemies. After all, she would most likely die by the hands of the people her father risked his life to protect. "Is also the last Namikaze. I do hope you are not so cruel as to wish to kill our saviour's child."

There is a silence. The Sandaime continues. "If that is not enough, she is also one of the last Uzumaki. Keep in mind that her father had sealed the burden into his only child, but a few hours old, to save all of you. She is the daughter of your saviour and she too, although still young, houses an incredible burden, if only to keep the village safe. Remember that a sealing scroll is not a kunai despite housing it. She is not the demon." Having said his piece, he leaned back into his chair, gazing at the baby in his arms. She was sleeping soundly. Then, as if knowing he was looking at her, her eyes fluttered open.

"Well, I must insist I get to adopt her. The Hyuuga clan would be more than willing to adopt this child. She is after all, a child of a close friend of mine and my wife," Hiashi uttered, breaking the silence. Hiruzen turned the baby around, so that she could look at the council who was in charge of her fate.

Even the hardened shinobi could not keep their eyes from softening at the beautiful child's gaze. She reached out, grasping for one of the pens on the paper. She grabbed a hold of one, stabbing with it at the lap of the man she sat on. Hiruzen yelped, before gently easing the pen out of her grip.

Tsume smiled, her sharp canines in display, but her eyes did not smile. Her large brown eyes were watery, mourning the loss if the Yondaime. "May I be given the honor of raising her? I believe she will fit in well with Kiba and Hana, if she inherits her parents attitudes, that is." The Inuzuka was more toned down than usual, probably still stunned at the loss of her dear friends, Kushina and Minato.

There was a sudden uproar, following the two. The civilian council stared at the baby with wide eyes, as if already revering her. They were probably plotting on how to get her into their families, be it by marriage of adoption. Sandaime mused at their intentions. Surely they knew they stood no chance, especially since there were Shinobi clan heads requesting for custody of the blonde child.

Danzo was staring at the child, eyes hungry for power. He wanted her to be trained as a weapon, Hiruzen assumed. He scoffed internally, like he would ever let Minato's child have such a fate. Directing the whisker marked baby's gaze away from Danzo, he let her nibble on his finger, she was all gums and no teeth, so it did not hurt.

"It is troublesome, but I assure you, the Nara clan will bring her up well if you let her live with us. Shikamaru can be her big brother, he is, after all, a few months older than her." Shikaku drawled, a little less composed than usual, his eyes wrought with worry.

"I think we should wait for her godfather to arrive before deciding who she should stay with. For now, I hope I have your approval of raising her for the time being? We should have another meeting in around three months. It will give you some time to decide among your clans the course of action and it will give some time for my student, Jiraiya to arrive and help in deciding his goddaughter's fate." Sarutobi Hiruzen said firmly.

"I suppose the Hokage is right. We need to make necessary arrangements. Will the child's heritage be announced?" Fuguku Uchiha asked.

"Yes, I will be announcing to the village in a week about the demon sealed within this child and her heritage. For now, I would like to request you not tell anyone but your family members. Ensure they do not say anything, this child will be in grave danger from the Yondaime enemies. I would like to add that since the Yondaime is deceased, I will be the acting Hokage now. Meeting adjourned."

**-one week later-**

Standing before the people of Konoha, donning the Kage robes and hat again, the Sarutobi felt weary. So much had happened and he had been forced to take up the seat of the Hokage again, despite him already being rather old. It was tiring really, but he had a duty to the people.

"People of Konoha, here I hold in my hands the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi," he rocked the baby in his hands, the girl sleeping soundly. "Remember that a sealing scroll is not a kunai simply because the kunai is sealed within it. This holds true for Jinchuuriki. I would also like to announce that this baby, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naru, is the heir to our late Hokage, and is also the last of the great Uzumaki clan. She is the daughter of our Saviour, and I expect that the villagers will treat her as such." With that, the Sandaime shunshined away to the shocked gasps of the people, unwilling to deal with the reaction to the abrupt explanation he had given the people.

**-three months time skip-**

"Hokage-sama, the Nara clan would like to adopt the child. I have discussed with the clan elders and they have approved. We will impart our skills to the child and bring her up to be an intelligent strategist, like her late father."

"Hokage-sama, although we have been close allies with the Nara clan for many years, the Yamanaka clan beseeches you to give us the rights to the child. We believe we can raise the child well. We too will teach her our clan jutsu. Exposing the child to them at a young age will allow her to use them when she grows up."

"Hokage-sama, the Hyuuga clan has thought this through, the elders have demanded I gain the rights to the child. We will protect the child to the best of our means and teach her to become a great shinobi. I believe Hinata will be a great companion to the child."

"Hokage-sama, I know the Akamichi clan is not necessarily the one with the best qualifications, but we promise we will bring the child up to the best of our abilities, while we may not be able to teach her our clan jutsus, and we will ensure that she has a happy childhood."

"We, of the Inuzuka clan, wish to raise her as part of our pack. We will teach her to understand the language of dogs as she isn't born from our clan and will gift her with a partner of her choice. Partners if more dogs wish to bond with her. We may not be as influential a clan as the Hyuugas, but we will treat her as part of the pack. We defend our pack with our lives."

"The Aburame clan would like to deny this opportunity. Why? Because although we do so want to adopt her, we feel that due to the Kyuubi, she will not be able to house chakra bugs. They may not accept the chakra of the demon."

"Hokage-sama, the Uchiha clan is sad to say that we are unable to take her in due to internal problems in the clan. We are willing, however to train the child in the taijutsu style of our clan. We will also teach her fire-jutsus, however, in exchange, we wish for her to befriend one, if not two of the Uchiha in our clan, my two sons."

The sly old fox, the Hokage thought. He wanted his children to gain the favor of the child and have her marry into their clan. He glanced down at the child in his arms, she was donning a miniature kimono, embroidered with little flowers. What would be best for her? He mused. He had spent the three months racking his brain over it, yet he could not come up with a clear answer.

He set the child on the table, as she babbled and giggled at the clan heads.

"Sorry I'm late sensei." A familiar voice stopped his train of thoughts. He looked up. There was his former student, he had aged a lot in the five months he had been gone. No doubt Minato's death had hit him hard.

"Sensei, I propose you let me take care of her."

There were muffled protests, the clan heads were unhappy, and surprisingly, it was Shikaku who voiced their thoughts.

"Is it wise to leave a baby in the hands of your student? I mean, no offense Jiraiya-sama, you aren't necessarily the best influence on a child. I mean, it may be troublesome, but perhaps you should leave her in the hands of one of us." The clan head yawned at the end of his sentence.

"Yeah, perhaps you are right, Shikaku," the white-haired Sannin considered it for a while. "How about this? Sensei, you pick a clan to take care of her most of the time, and once in a while, I am allowed to bring her out of the village to teach her. When the genin teams are assigned, I wish for her to become my apprentice instead." The Sannin compromised.

"I mean no disrespect Hokage-sama, but I wish to take her on as my student when she is grown." The ANBU with a dog mask and silver hair stepped forward.

Well, Hiruzen had hoped his former pupil would make his life easier, but it appeared life just got even more complicated for him. He could have sworn he heard his former teammates snicker at his predicament.

"Well... Well... Let's take a coffee break shall we? He motioned for his assistant to get coffee. "Would you like to chat more over lunch? I can order Ichiraku ramen." The clan heads rolled their eyes at the obvious diversion, but nodded.

His secretary dialed the number for the restaurant, placing the orders. Then, the Hokage became distracted by the baby who was crawling towards Tsume. She clambered onto the Inuzuka clan head and sniffed. Tsume smiled, gathering her up in her arms. Then, the blonde girl patted the clan head's shoulder.

"Doggy!" She grinned at Tsume, flashing her growing teeth. Tsume laughed.

"Looks like she likes me!" Tsume said smugly. Then, the girl wiggled out of her arms. Inoichi, who was seated opposite the Inuzuka held out his arms, and the girl crawled to him.

"Yellow!" She tugged at Inoichi's hair. He laughed, about to pick her up when she started crawling away. He looked crestfallen. He had been rejected multiple times by Ino, and now even Naru was rejecting him.

Tsume flashed him a smug grin. Inoichi seemed to shrink into himself.

The clan heads followed the little blonde's movements.

"Twee!" She happily yelled as she crawled towards the plant in the middle of the table.

Jiraiya snickered, it looked like she liked the plant more than Inoichi. The clan heads leaned in, peering at her with curious eyes. She grabbed the pot of dying bonsai.

Giggling, she hugged it tightly. The Sandaime grinned indulgently at the child, already knowing her antics.

"Jiji, why is it so brown? I want it ta be gween!" She glared at the Hokage, who instantly felt bad.

"Well... I can't er... make it green so easily Naru. Come 'ere, jiji will get you a green plant later okay?" Obviously unsatisfied with his answer the little girl turned and stared at Shikaku.

"It is way too troublesome, but Naru, if you want to, we can go get a plant for you?" Shikaku sighed.

Naru pouted.

"Come here Naru, I'll help you fix the plant right up!" Inoichi coaxed, trying to get into the little girl's good books. The girl stared at him, before dismissing him by looking away. The Inuzuka clan head snickered, as did the other members of the council.

The little girl set the pot on the ground, she prodded at the drooping leaves.

"Grow gween!" She stared at it. Then, it happened.

Before the council's eyes, the plant started to grow.

It grew and grew and grew till it was about Naru's height, and it was blooming with flowers.

"See, Jiji! It's gween now." Giggling, she clapped her hands.

The Sandaime gasped, pipe dropping out of his mouth. Jiraiya's eyes widened. Shikaku seemed much more alert than usual, Inoichi had stopped his whining and Chouza had stopped munching on his chips. Even the dignified Hyuuga and Uchiha clan heads were gaping. Tsume just blinked in shock. The rest of the shinobi council were staring dumbfounded at the little child.

And Naru grinned brightly, the flowers in the tree blooming even more. Hiruzen suddenly lost his appetite to eat. And it was all thanks to that little blonde girl.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** So here's chapter two! I'll try my very best to make sure she isn't a super typical kind of heroine. :D. I'm find it so so fun to write this, and I've got a couple other drabble like fics not yet posted or completed! I twisted the canon storyline a little so she has mokuton. I so like mokuton fics so... I won't overpower her or anything, because I've got this kind of image of how she will be and the weaknesses she will have etc. Haha, I'm just so stoked that my exams are over. I did super badly for one paper though, so I'm not excited to get them back. Anyway, on with the story! I'll get the next chapter out soon!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor get any money from writing this fanfiction

"Hokage-sama! She...she just used mokuton! Hokage-sama! How can she use mokuton?" The bewildered Chouza started to talk.

"It's troublesome, but I should think it is because Kushina Uzumaki is related to the Senju isn't she? Furthermore, I think that the mokuton is a latent bloodline, and it is extremely erratic, it must have skipped a few generations. It is also highly probable that her being a Jinchuuriki host has also helped in waking the latent bloodline." Shikaku seemed slightly calmer than his old teammate.

Bewildered, the Hokage nodded. "Kushina-san is probably related to the Senju, after all, Mito Uzumaki had another child, but sent the child to the Uzumaki clan as the child had dominant Uzumaki blood and the Uzumaki clan was in need of a successor."

"Hokage-sama, I wish to insist again that we have custody," the Hyuuga clan leader stood up, his eyes firm.

Said Hokage an incredible headache coming on. If it was not bad enough already, she had somehow manifested the long lost bloodline.

"What happened today must not leave the room. I will assign the ANBU who has mokuton due to Orochimaru's experiments to teach her when she reaches the age of six. No doubt she will find it easy to control, it is, after all, an actual bloodline belonging to her." Hiruzen sighed.

"I am unsure as to whether my choice is right, but I feel that Shikaku should have custody. I'll take up Jiraiya's and the Uchiha's offer. I am extremely apologetic towards the rest of you esteemed clan heads, but I will not change my offer."

"I suppose that is quite a good choice," the Inuzuka matriarch said. "I would still like to offer a nin-dog and lessons to teach her how to understand her partner."

"I am quite unsatisfied about not being able to gain the rights to raising the child, but I would like to at least, have my daughter interact with Naru." The Hyuuga sighed, knowing he had lost the battle.

"Will we be able to help in raising the child? For the Akimichi and the Yamanaka clan that is. The Yamanaka clan's offer still stands. We will teach her our clan jutsus." Inoichi smiled, it was good that it was Shikaku and not the Hyuuga of who gained the custody of the little girl.

Hiruzen nodded, accepting their offers. His former student smiled from his place by the window. And it was done. Namikaze Naru was to be raised by the Nara clan.

-Five years later-

"Shika-nii! Come on, let me show you the thing I've been working on. Isn't this cool?" A blonde haired girl dragged the lazy Nara from his place on the grass back into the house. A white and brown dog following after her.

Shikaku looked up from his newspaper and breakfast and smirked. He did not want to be the only one to suffer Naru's hyper-activeness. His wife looked at Naru dragging her brother around and smiled.

Shikamaru looked down at the blonde girl, who then slowed down and looked to him with her big blue eyes. She blinked at him, and he felt his face flush. He knew it was weird to feel this kind of infatuation at such a young age, he was only five after all, but he could not help it. They both knew they were not blood siblings, and as long as Shikamaru does not reveal his feelings, no one would ever know. It would not hurt anyone.

"Shika-oniisan , whatcha' turning red for?" She gazed at him curiously, her big blue eyes honest, but without waiting for her answer, she continued to drag him to her room. Shikamaru sighed. His little sister was way too cute. It was way too troublesome for him.

"See Shika-nii, look what I can do to this puppet!" Shikamaru watched as she formed chakra strings. It was astounding, her chakra control, that is. Given that her chakra coils contained so much chakra, it was a wonder that she could control it so well. An attribute of a kunoichi, he would assume. The puppet was a simple thing, a body, a head and limbs. It was around the size of a grown man's palm.

She made the puppet dance around, catching his attention. Suddenly, it brandished a kunai, a miniature wooden one, but nonetheless a kunai. It danced around with it, welding it like a knife.

"Hey Shika-nii, see, I did something else too. Cos Tenten's otousan made me miniature senbons and Hinata's otousan let me sit in on one of the anatomy lessons on the chakra points and all the vital organs of the human body, so I came up with this. Watch Shika-nii!" She held her hand out to Hikari, her nin-dog, who gave her the doll he had been holding since a while ago.

She placed the new doll at the edge of the bed and stood five feet away. Hovering in front of her was her tiny puppet, and she twitched her last finger, and little lights of silver flew out and pierced into the body of the little doll. Shikamaru winced, before approaching the doll to look at it. The little senbon had pierced into the doll at all labelled vital organs and some of the major chakra points.

Eyes widening, he looked to his sister. "Have you showed this to otousan yet?" The little girl shook her head, grinning widely. "It may be troublesome, but I think we should show this to dad." Grasping the shorter girl's soft, small hand, he marched out of the room towards the living room, the dolls in hand and the little nin-dog trailing behind.

"Otousan, I think Naru somehow learnt puppetry. Look at this," he held out the senbon skewered doll to his father, the he explained what had happened. His father gasped. How could Naru had learnt that? It was a Suna art, guarded to utmost secrecy, there would be no scrolls teaching her that skill in Konoha. This could very well be a breakthrough. No shinobi had managed to learn the delicate art of puppetry in Konoha before.

"Come on Naru, Shikamaru, let's go pay the Hokage a visit. It's so troublesome, but it's that time of the month anyway, that we'll be having a council meeting, so I'll just bring you two along." Shikaku said, before setting down his coffee and telling Naru and Shikamaru to go wear some more formal clothes.

It took around twenty minutes, but Naru was finally in a red and gold yukata, her hair up in a ponytail to the side, clipped together with a sparkly flower pin given to her by the Hokage for her birthday. Shikamaru was wearing black shinobi pants and a blue top. Looking at Naru, Shikamaru blushed. His troublesome sister is extremely pretty in a yukata, he realises with a start. There would be trouble if Sasuke or Kiba saw her like that. One was always trying to throw pick-up lines with a cool exterior the other was just plain annoying, always bugging his sister for a date.

The Hokage sighed. He knew something was up as soon as he saw Naru entering the Hokage tower with her father and brother from the window in his office. The girl never means to bring trouble, but somehow she was more troublesome than most. And he was beginning to sound like a Nara... He could not help it, it always happened when he thought of the girl.

Shikaku was the earliest, so he let Shikamaru sit on his seat in the council room and Shikamaru grabbed Naru, who was petting Hikari's head, and seated her on his lap. He could smell the sunshine on her hair, his face turning hot at how near he was to her, he turned away, looking to his right. Shikaku gazed fondly at his children. They were a troublesome pair, but he loved them, as mushy as it sounded. He grabbed another chair, it was probably one of the civilian's council's, but he could not really care. He sat next to his children, eyes fluttering shut.

"Shikaku! Well I never expected you to be early!" A boisterous voice stopped him from napping. He looked up at Tsume Inuzuka. "Well, well, who do we have here? Little Naru and Shikamaru!"

Naru set Hikari down on the table in front of her, before scrambling to make her way up into the table top. She ran across the table towards Tsume, who held her arms open for Naru to jump into.

"Naru! You little devil! I haven't seen you in a month! What have you been up to?" Tsume petted the tiny child's head.

"Nothing... I made puppets though!" Naru grinned toothily at the elder woman. The lady smiled, before hugging Naru tightly.

"If it isn't little Naru! Come on here!" Inoichi raised his hands out, wanting a hug too.

"Konnichiwa uncle Inoichi, sorry, but Aunt Tsume is much more comfy," the girl snuggled into Tsume's shoulder. Tsume smiled smugly at Inoichi, who slunk into his seat silently, looking rather blue.

"Ohayou Naru-chan!" The Sandiame walked in.

"Ohayou Sandaime-jiji!" Naru beamed.

Naru greeted the rest of the shinobi council who filed in one by one. They smiled at the little ball of sunshine, curious as to why she was here.

"So, since we're in session, Shikaku, care to explain why Naru is here?" The Hokage asked, looking at the little girl on the floor who was currently braiding her brother's hair, Hikari yipping at the side. The little dog sounded like she was laughing. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, muttering 'troublesome' under his breath.

"Well... I have no idea how the troublesome Naru learnt how to form chakra strings and I have no idea how she learnt about puppetry, but Shikamaru said Naru was playing with puppets using chakra strings and shot senbon out of the puppet. Look at this, she had the puppet shoot senbon at this other puppet. This is such a drag. Naru is such a troublesome girl..." He smiled fondly however, despite his words. Passing around the puppet riddled with senbon, he watched the shocked faces of the council.

"Naru, is that true? Will you show us?" Hiruzen motioned to the girl. Naru stopped braiding, before clambering into the waiting arms of the Hokage.

"Come here, Hikari!" She held her hand out to her nin-dog, who leaped into Hiruzen's lap as well. Hugging Hikari, Naru made her way onto the council table. The council watched as Naru bit her finger, causing blood to flow out.

"Naru?" Chouza asked worriedly. Shikamaru looked in, wincing a little at the fact his sister bled. He hated it when his sister got hurt.

"It's okay, Ero-sennin taught me this you see?" She dripped a drop of blood onto Hikari's collar. From it came a scroll, and she rolled it out.

"Unseal!" She placed her palm on the scroll, which had around ten circles drawn on it. Ten puppets appeared on the circles, and the little girl grinned.

The shinobi council chose to not comment on the impressive display of sealing arts- at her age, that is. Naru had a habit of displaying skills beyond her age. Picking up one doll, she formed blue chakra strings, extending from her right hand. The council watched in shock as she made the doll move according to her wishes.

"Sasuke's otousan, arigatou for teaching me the fire jutsus. I made this puppet after you." She beamed. The Uchiha clan head smiled. He had a soft spot for the girl. She had taught him loyalty to Konoha, thus exterminating the plans for a coup that he had planned before talking to the girl.

"Sandaime-jiji, do you have any paper work you wanna burn?" She smiled cheekily at the Hokage.

The Sandaime glanced at his secretary for a split second before pushing a towering stack of useless paperwork at Naru. Naru giggled, before lifting her hand, transporting the doll to a short distance from the paperwork. Her index finger twitched and a fireball bigger than the doll itself appeared and flew towards the paperwork, which promptly burst into flames.

There was a stunned silence. The doll-like puppet may not have looked like much, as compared to the actual Suna puppets, but the fact that it could produce a fireball was a shock in itself. This was something that most shinobi had never seen before, Suna puppets made use of poisons and weapons but not elements. With this, Konoha could very well produce the best puppeteer since Sasori of the Red Sand.

"How did you do that Naru? Can you let me see the puppet?" There was a pause as Naru broke the chakra strings and reached for the puppet before walking across the council table towards the Hokage seat.

"See?" Naru yanked open the mouth of the puppet. "There's this seal thingy I drew. I just drew this weird dots over this circular seal. The old pervert gave me some scrolls and taught me the basics and then I did this. I don't really know how to explain it. It just... fits."

And the Sandiame could not decide if the cute little girl was a genius or was plain lucky. This was so going to cause diplomatic problems with Sunagukure.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: My marks were horrible, but I'm over that. I'm feeling horrible though, I think I'm coming down with something. I've worked on this chapter for a while now, because it was a little hard to complete. Not much to say because I feel horrible cause my nose is blocked and my throat hurts and I'm so so sleepy, so enjoy! Hope it's alright, and watch out for the next chapter, which is going to be a time skip to graduation day! So you can try and guess what kind of teams it'll be, and Sakura (who may or may not be a guy) will finally appear! Gomen for writing such a short chapter. ;-;

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor receive any profits from writing this story**

The Sandaime had given up. He was way too old for this, he would just hope that it would take a while for Naru's ability to control puppets to get to Suna and deal with it later. He had dismissed the council meeting early, making the people present promise to keep the puppets a secret.

Meanwhile, since the council meeting had been dismissed early, the clan heads with their children decided they would meet at one of the training fields along with their charges. Shikaku had brought the two children back to change out of their formal clothes after Naru had complained it was hard to move around in them. After that, Shikamaru and Naru were skipping hand in hand- or rather, Naru was skipping and dragging the dark haired boy along with her, along the streets of Konoha, Shikaku and Hikari trailing behind the two children, hands in his pockets and his posture slouched.

"Ne Otou-san! I want some ramen! Can we eat ramen for lunch?" The bright girl looked at her guardian with big blue eyes. Shikaku nodded, and Naru immediately sped off towards Ichiraku's, excited at the prospect of having her favourite meal.

Thirty minutes and a few bowls of ramen later, the trio were headed towards the training ground they were meeting the other clan heads and their charges at. As it turned out, they were the latest. The children were already running around on the field, and the parents were seated around, talking.

"Naru! You're here! We were waiting for you!" Kiba yelled, rushing forward with Akamaru at his heels to tackle Naru. Naru blinked, surprised at the sudden tackle.

"Hn. How annoying. You just had to be late didn't you Shikamaru? Kiba you annoying dog, let go of Naru. She doesn't want you to hug her can't you see that?" The younger Uchiha glared at the Inuzuka boy.

Kiba jumped at Sasuke, hissing and clawing whilst Sasuke deftly evaded his attacks. After all the greetings- and fighting, were over and done with, they started a game of hide and seek.

With Naru as the seeker despite much protest on her part, she found herself having a hard time finding her friends. They were after all still children of seasoned shinobi. So no doubt their parents had taught them some skills. Still, she was not a civilian child, so she too had learnt a couple things from the nice onee-chan called Anko-oneechan.

It did not pose much of a problem finding Chouji, whose crunching sounds made it easy to spot him from his position behind a bush. Ino was easy enough to find, her blonde hair making it hard for her to hide in the greenery. Hinata peeked out from behind a tree and Naru had caught her too, but the rest posed more of a problem to spot.

She grinned mischievously. She was so going to win this game. After all, how was she going to become Hokage like her father if she lost to a game of hide and seek? So she did what Anko-nee taught her to do. Throw sharp things everywhere. In this case, the little shurikens made of paper she had made for her puppets. Nothing overly harmful, but sharp enough to scare her friends. Reaching into her pocket, she brought out many little shurikens, then with a wide swing of her arm, she aimed it towards the trees, where most of them were probably hiding.

And scare her friends it did. Kiba ran out from behind a tree, narrowly avoiding the fast flying object. Shikamaru toppled over from his position on one of the tree branches, doing a somersault to land on his two feet. Shino appeared next to her out of nowhere, scaring Naru a little. Sasuke had leapt out of his position between the tall grass, stumbling out before dusting himself off, trying to look like a regal Uchiha, unbothered by anything. Hikari barked loudly, as if she was laughing.

"That's no fair! Was that allowed?" Kiba yelled, eyes narrowed.

"They were paper shurikens. They won't injure you!" Naru giggled, and all was forgotten as they appointed Chouji the next seeker and ran off to hide again.

It was around dinner time when their gathering ended and Shikaku, his two charges and Hikari headed towards the Nara clan house, already anticipating the delicious dinner that was waiting for them back at their house.

"Tadaima Okaa-san!" The famished but still energetic blonde bounced into their house, heading straight for the dining room.

"Okaeri!" The brunette welcomed her husband and two children home, an apron tied around her waist and donning a smile on her face. She untied her apron, putting it aside, and motioned for her family to sit at their respective seats at the dining table. She entered the kitchen again, getting some dog food for Hikari, who barked before burying her snout in her dinner.

After they were all seated nicely, Naru yelled a loud "Itadakimasu!" before picking up her chopsticks and digging in. She wolfed down her food, whilst Shikamaru and Shikaku ate slowly, in an almost lazy way.

"Imouto-chan, aren't you worried you will choke? What are you in such a rush for anyway?" Shikamaru asked, reaching for a piece of meat at the center of the dining table.

Gulping down a mouthful of rice, Naru smiled at her brother. "I've got lessons with Yamato-sensei after this, remember?"

"Oh, how troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered, having been anticipating some alone time with his sister. His sister turned to look at him, tilting her head to the side. Shikamaru simply smiled at her, and she went back to her food.

"Ja ne! I'll be back when my training is over!" Naru yelled, putting down her chopsticks and running out to the courtyard with Hikari at her heels. Shikamaru sighed, finishing up his food and trudging back to his room, wishing some kami would tell him how to deal with his troublesome sister.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Alright, I know it's not an excuse, but my second half of the year has been extremely busy and I've been having bouts of writer block. My examinations just finished, so I decided to try my best to write more. I'm so sorry! Gomenasai! There will be another note at the bottom telling you my reasoning for all this. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy! I'll try my best to update soon, but no promises. I'm trying my best to make sure Naru doesn't stray too far from canon Naruto. _

**Diclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor earn any profits from writing this fanfiction**

-Time skip to academy graduation-

It was that time of the year again. The graduation of the academy students. This time, the Sandaime was having a severe headache. Why? Because it appeared everyone wanted Naru on their team, and the children had pressured their parents into going to the Sandaime and requesting to have Naru on their team.

Even Ino was no exception, wanting her best friend in the same team as her. In response to Inoichi's request, the Sandaime had looked blankly at the blond haired man and told him bluntly that every team needed two males and Ino was a female as was Naru. The blonde man left dejected, and in all honesty, the Sandaime could not be bothered anymore. Arranging teams and deciding where to put Naru was causing him way too much problems.

The Sandaime considered if he should do a traditional Team Seven and make his life easier by dumping Sasuke and Kiba in the same team as Naru and put them under Kakashi, but Kiba was essential for a tracking team. Asuma has wanted another Ino-Shika-Chou combination, but he supposed it could be put off, since there had actually been other teams of the same combination that have become Chunin already. He knows without this team combination, he could work on Ino's skills as a central control center sort of team member.

If he took apart the Ino-Shika-Chou combination, he could put Ino on the tracking team with Kiba and Shino to ensure easy communication with the all-important tracking team. There. One team down and two more to go. Hiruzen felt happy, but he knew the main trouble came up ahead. Naru had still not been put in a team yet, and he doubted anyone except for those on the team would be happy with how he arranged them.

Satoru would not be put on the same team as Naru. He was a civilian with good chakra control and had the makings of a medic-nin, and would be a good addition to any team, but he doubted any of the clan heirs would be happy that someone with such a major crush on Naru would be on the same team as her. Shikamaru was close to Naru, which ensured better teamwork. Furthermore, he could control his sister much better and act as the calm thinker on the team. So those two could be put together. Hinata would be on the other team, and now there was only Sasuke and Chouji left. Chouji would be a good choice because of his clan jutsus, but Sasuke would also be a brilliant choice.

Putting Hinata on the team with Satoru would be a pretty good idea because that would mean that Satoru would have more time with his sensei, and goodness knows he needs it, for all his brain, he was not going to survive in the field very long because of how week he is. If he was a kunoichi it would be different, for Kunoichi's put more emphasis on the finer arts, like flower arranging. Hinata would have her clan to train her, especially since her clan was a stickler for tradition. And any team with a Hyuuga and a could be medic-nin along with a shinobi that had high damage potential would be a brilliant team for back-up.

Sighing, the Sandaime Hokage leaned back in his chair. Perhaps he could base it on luck. It was not as if any of the two were particularly bad choices after all. Writing the names of Sasuke and Chouji on two separate papers, he fired a light wind jutsu at the small pieces of paper, making it fly upwards. Closing his eyes, his right hand darted towards the papers, grasping one of them while letting the other fall down.

Looking at the name, the Sandaime chuckled.

/At the Academy/

"Of course I passed it! After all, I'm one of the best genin to be here!" Kiba boasted, pounding in his chest like a savage. At that moment, Sasuke came out of the exam room, and casually smacked the loud boy on the back of his head.

"Sasuke-teme!" Kiba growled, then he pounced onto Sasuke, and they started squabbling like a cat and dog would.

Naru laughed, tossing her long hair back, she had gotten used to this, they really did not get along well. It was nothing too serious, after their squabbles, they'll both come out with scratches and slightly tattered clothes. She looked around. Where was a brother?

"Imouto-chan, where are you looking at?" The familiar voice of her beloved brother came from behind her. "And here." He passed her Hikari. "I took care of her while you were in there. How was it?"

Naru smiled enthusiastically. "I'm a real kunoichi now! I'm gonna kick all the evil shinobi's butts. Look!" She flashed the shiny hitai-ate, grinning brightly. Her brother sighed tiredly, patting her on her head whilst smiling slightly.

"You're probably not going to kick any butt for a while." Shikamaru said, only to be ignored when his sister's attention was snatched by another troublesome blonde, this one perhaps even more troublesome than the blonde girl he so dearly loved.

"Don't hog her Shikamaru! Naru-chan is mine!" A female hand reached for her, snagging her wrist and pulling her away from her brother.

"Ino-chan!" Naru turned around and smiled, noticing the shiny hitai-ate on Ino's forehead. The taller girl smiled brightly, feeling an urge to pinch the cheeks of the blonde ball of sunshine.

"Ne, ne. Since everyone is here, shall we go meet our parents then go play?" Naru said loudly, while carefully placing Hikari on her head, watching as Shino and Hinata made their way over. When everyone, including the still squabbling Sasuke and Kiba, agreed, they made their way out, a horde of rowdy children, albeit the fact that this horde of children were a little more special than the average children of the village, for they were a prestigious group of clan heirs.

The second day was the day the results would be announced. Naru got up bright and early, and ran to her brother's room, shaking him awake. The lazy boy tried to swat her hand away so he could enjoy the comfort of his bed for a little longer, but like practically all battles Naras have with the women in their life, he lost. So fifteen minutes later, he was at the lunch table, slowly eating his breakfast. His sister however, was jumping around, with Hikari letting out the occasional yelp, behind his chair as if trying to hurry him up.

"Alright, alright, let's go." Shikamaru sighed, munching on the last of his breakfast. Naru grinned even wider and Shikamaru wondered how someone could smile so widely and yet so prettily. Shaking his head, he began trudging to the academy, following behind the blond that was his sister.

As soon as they reached the Academy, the already present members of the class smiled and greeted the two Naras enthusiastically, and the male Nara made his way to his usual seat, so he could catch up on the sleep that Naru had snatched away from him, after greeting the rest of their group of friends.

When he next woke up, Iruka was getting ready to announce the teams.

Naru stared at her favourite teacher, willing him to name the teams already. Iruka sighed, before opening his mouth.

"Team Seven, Naru..." He trailed off, watching as practically everyone perked up at the name of the blonde girl everyone admired. He had to admit, this bunch of kids were kind of scary and he wanted to get everything over as fast as possible. "Sasuke, and Shikamaru. Team Eight, Ino, Kiba and Shino. Team Ten, Hinata, Satoru and Chouji. Alright, all of your sensei will come here to meet you. It's been a nightma... ahem, brilliant um... experience teaching you all. Ja ne!" And he disappeared just as protests started sounding.

_Okay so here's my reasoning:_

_Naru's lack of a crush. I believe that even if Sakura is male now and even if she's surrounded by a bunch of guys, that she is like Naruto, and although she may be much girlier than Naruto, she's not going to act like a fangirl. She's been brought up by a clan of geniuses and has many friends beside her, along with many admirers, so she is more focused than canon. _

_If you aren't sure about anything or why it's happening, feel free to tell me in your reviews and I'll try my best to tell explain in the next chapter. BTW, Satoru IS Sakura._


End file.
